Dereliction of Duty

A U.S. sergeant on duty in Iraq had a panic attack after witnessing the mangled body of an Iraqi torn in half by American gunfire. When he sought counseling to deal with his grief, he was court-martialled for cowardice — a charge potentially punishable by death. The cowardice charge has since been dropped, and I know war is hell and all, but my god.

Music: Cecil Taylor :: Of What

3 Replies to “Dereliction of Duty”

  1. Try this for fun: in any news report about the US occupation of Iraq, substitute “German” for “American” and “France” for “Iraq”, then decrease all dates by 60 years. If the result sounds like exactly what you’d expect from World War II: worry.

    [France, December 1943] A German Unterfedwebel on duty in Marseilles had a panic attack after witnessing the mangled body of a Frenchman torn in half by German gunfire. When he sought counseling to deal with his grief, he was court-martialled for cowardice — a charge potentially punishable by death.

    Hmmm… doesn’t sound unlikely.

    (Please note: I am not stating here that I believe the US are Nazis, only that there are cases where individual news items from the two theatres of war do not seem dissimilar. My actual political views are not relevant to this particular point.)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *